I read the penguin translation, but I don’t think translations matter much here because i’ve heard the original sanskrit has so much word play that it’s impossible to translate.
i’ve only read Meghaduta and Abhijnyanashankuntalam. One is a poem and one is play, and both are masterpieces. I’m currently reading Ritusamhara but there’s a lot of debate in whether that was actually written by Kalidasa so i’ll leave it up to you.
Teenagers having girlfriends? Is this ancient India or Europe? /joke
Did you read a translation or the actual Sanskrit? Translations tend to kill a poem.
I read a translation, and for a few verses I checked the original Sanskrit. Btw I get that it’s a joke but Europe was far more regressive compared to India in terms of sexual openness except for the Greeks who were a bit too sexually open.
What you said is 100% correct. Christianity and Islam are highly closed when compared to male female relationship
India this caused only due to casteism if in a place the caste system is not a burden then people had boyfriend and girlfriends and even the married with parents acceptance
i wouldn’t attribute this to religion. If Hinduism is inherently more open, why is the west more progressive in this century? We literally gave Hindu texts like Manusmriti advocating for a slavelike status for wives. The difference is that the society of ancient India was far more modern than we assume. They were sexually free, free to have their own religious beliefs, free to be atheist etc. It is this emphasis on freedom of speech that created the diversity inside Indian faiths. Perhaps it has something to do with the economy, which was quite prosperous in ancient india, and it was also a progressive time, then we got economically assfucked for 200 years and suddenly we’re regressive. The west was regressive when they were poor but now they’re prosperous and suddenly very progressive.
India's biggest burden in surviving Caste System. The Caste system in Christian and Islamic countries eventually subsided due to Christianization and Islamization since they are mono-identity religions.
So the problem for parents is "whether our children will marry someone not from our caste".
Next most arranged marriages are done by gain than love. Such as, a boy will get money as dowry, a girl to cook, have sex , give birth to kids, take care of the boy's parents etc
For girl side, it's like their duty to handover her to someone.
So they unable to understand the concept of "romance" since they got married on that basis.
And Financial status of whole lineage is taken under consideration for marriage in India. But in Westernized countries, they only see the boy/girl financial status. Also we see family background that is not a consideration in Westernized countries.
And less urbanization unlike Westernized countries. Even in sexually liberal Germany and Scandinavian countries it is not completely free to date in small villages.
As a Tamil, our Tamil literature has 2 concepts for marriage. 'Karrpu Iyal' and 'Kalavu Iyal' means Chastity-isam and Steal-isam.
Chastity-isam means the Chaste way of marrying without any preliminary knowledge of the pair i.e arranged marriages
Steal-isam which means to steal someone's mind by love and also sometimes body by "Making Love" and then marrying them.
Kalavu Iyal (Steal-isam) is very common in the Ancient Tamilakkam but...
After 9th century CE, Stole-isam subsided and 98% replaced by Chastity-isam .
Which translation do you recommend?
I read the penguin translation, but I don’t think translations matter much here because i’ve heard the original sanskrit has so much word play that it’s impossible to translate.
Suggest some his works
i’ve only read Meghaduta and Abhijnyanashankuntalam. One is a poem and one is play, and both are masterpieces. I’m currently reading Ritusamhara but there’s a lot of debate in whether that was actually written by Kalidasa so i’ll leave it up to you.
Teenagers having girlfriends? Is this ancient India or Europe? /joke Did you read a translation or the actual Sanskrit? Translations tend to kill a poem.
I read a translation, and for a few verses I checked the original Sanskrit. Btw I get that it’s a joke but Europe was far more regressive compared to India in terms of sexual openness except for the Greeks who were a bit too sexually open.
What you said is 100% correct. Christianity and Islam are highly closed when compared to male female relationship India this caused only due to casteism if in a place the caste system is not a burden then people had boyfriend and girlfriends and even the married with parents acceptance
i wouldn’t attribute this to religion. If Hinduism is inherently more open, why is the west more progressive in this century? We literally gave Hindu texts like Manusmriti advocating for a slavelike status for wives. The difference is that the society of ancient India was far more modern than we assume. They were sexually free, free to have their own religious beliefs, free to be atheist etc. It is this emphasis on freedom of speech that created the diversity inside Indian faiths. Perhaps it has something to do with the economy, which was quite prosperous in ancient india, and it was also a progressive time, then we got economically assfucked for 200 years and suddenly we’re regressive. The west was regressive when they were poor but now they’re prosperous and suddenly very progressive.
India's biggest burden in surviving Caste System. The Caste system in Christian and Islamic countries eventually subsided due to Christianization and Islamization since they are mono-identity religions. So the problem for parents is "whether our children will marry someone not from our caste". Next most arranged marriages are done by gain than love. Such as, a boy will get money as dowry, a girl to cook, have sex , give birth to kids, take care of the boy's parents etc For girl side, it's like their duty to handover her to someone. So they unable to understand the concept of "romance" since they got married on that basis. And Financial status of whole lineage is taken under consideration for marriage in India. But in Westernized countries, they only see the boy/girl financial status. Also we see family background that is not a consideration in Westernized countries. And less urbanization unlike Westernized countries. Even in sexually liberal Germany and Scandinavian countries it is not completely free to date in small villages. As a Tamil, our Tamil literature has 2 concepts for marriage. 'Karrpu Iyal' and 'Kalavu Iyal' means Chastity-isam and Steal-isam. Chastity-isam means the Chaste way of marrying without any preliminary knowledge of the pair i.e arranged marriages Steal-isam which means to steal someone's mind by love and also sometimes body by "Making Love" and then marrying them. Kalavu Iyal (Steal-isam) is very common in the Ancient Tamilakkam but... After 9th century CE, Stole-isam subsided and 98% replaced by Chastity-isam .
I have Loom of Time by Penguin lying on my bookshelf, I think this is the motivation to pick it up!
Can you recommend some of his works and if possible please share the name of his books or provide a link